Paper for wiping engraved printing plates



T. M. ROYAL PAPER FOR WIPING ENGRAVED PRINTING PLATES May 29, 1928 Filed April 22, 1927 //////l 'IIIII/III/ INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented May 29, 1928.

. UNITED STATES 'rnorms M. ROYAL, OF PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA.

PAPER non WIRING ENGRAVED rnmrme Prisms.

Application filed April 22, 1927. Serial No. 185,680.

In the art of printing from engraved printing plates the ink is applied by sultable means to the faces of the plates, therequired amount ofink being deposited in the engraved lines upon the surfaces ofthe plates. The ink-having been applied t is necessary that it be removed from the sur; faces of the plates outside of the engraved lines before the act of printing is performed;

that is, before a sheet of paper is placed upon a plate and pressure applied thereto for the purpose of effecting t e transfer of the inkifrom the engraved lines onto the Paper. a a

For the pin-Jose of effecting removal of the ink from tliesurface of a plate outside of the engraved lines thereon the practice is to feed a web of wiping paper through a printing press in proper relation to the path of travel of said plate from the point Where ink is applied t ereto and deposited in the engraved lines thereon, to the point where the printing is performed. The surface of the plate as it travels from the inking position to the printing position rubs a ainst the opposing side of the wiping web 0 paper whereby removal of the ink from the surface thereof, except that winch has been deposited in the engraved lines, is effected. The web ofpaper as it is fed through the printing machine is of necessi-j ty subjected to more or less stretching tension. Heretofore the paper has been employed or used without previous or s ecial.

treatment to render the same more e cient in removing theink from the surfaces of the plates, inconsequence of which it has been necessary not only to employrelatively heavy paper but to subject the same to rela tively great stretchingtension and the application of the same with relatively great ressure against the surface of the plate.

he weight of the paper heretofore used, and now ingeneral use, has ranged from fifty-five to sixty pounds per reannbut when paper without previousor special treatment 1S used. it is necessary to subject it to such pressure and tension that not infrer uently the sheets or webs as usedhave been roken thus causing delay and wasteof paper. As a resultof the relatively great pressurebetween the wiping sheets of paper and the lates a relatively great amount of friction has been developed between the sheets and the surfaces of the plates. In consequence of this wearing off of the surfaces of the plates hasbeen rather rapid, thereby unnecessaril decreasing the period or 'eriods during which the plates maybe 11sec satisfactorily. j

Another objection to wiping paper of ordinary untreated stock has been thatthe ink enters into the poresof the saine and also hardens quickly so that it may not in practice be removed, consequently used wiping paper has had but very little value for re sale or other purposes.

'- It will be apparent that if a paper may be treated in such manner that much lighter stock may beemployed andin a manner to obviate the objections and disadvantages heretofore indicated a substantial advance in the artwill have been achieved. I have found that paper treated with a suitable oil is iven characteristics whereby it may be useas a Wipin paper for removing the ink from engraver printing plates to very great advantage. I

Among the oilssuita ble for use in the treatment of paper to provide a wiping paper embodying the invention 1 may mention mineraloil, such as residuum oil, cylinder oil, engine oil, motor oil, paraflin oil, neutral oil, spindle oil, technical white oil, petrolatum, petrolatum grease, etc., whether they be derived from paraffin base, mixed base or crude asphaltic base, and also; animal and vegetable oils, fixed and volatile.

These latter oilsmay be used either alone or in admixture with one orunore of the mineral oils.

The mineral oils mentionedmay be used in the finished orwhat is known as the fully refined state, or they may be used .while in the intermediate stage of processing or-manufacture; that is, before they are fully refined. The fixed oils arepreferable but volatile oil may be employed.

Some of the objects of my invention are, to provide a paper'ofalcharacter such,that sheets of less thickness than heretofore employed may be thickness such that thecweight thereof will range around forty pounds per ream to provide paper of a character-such that it will effect a cleaner ping the surfaces of the engraved printing plates than heretofore has been practicalpto provide a paper of a character such that the areas 1.1 on the surface thereof onto which all oft e ink from the plate is removed are substantially narus d; that is, sheets of a roweror less than the corresponding areas on the surfaces of papers as heretofore used; to provide a paper such that com lete and satisfactor Y removal of the ink rom the surfaces 0 the may be reflected by the employment 0 less pressure between the plates and the sheets than heretofore has been required, thereby reducing the friction between the plates and the paper and also reducing the stretching tension upon the paper; to provide a sheet of a character such that it \vi 1 not remove any of the ink from the engraved lines upon the plate, thereby leaving the entire amount of the ink in said engraved lines to be applied to the paper in the printing operation; and also to provide paper of a character such that the ink may be removed from the surface'thereof so that the sheets or webs may be reused for wiping the ink from engraved printin lates.

In the course of the detailed description of the invention which follows other objects and advantages of the invention will be indicated.

In addition to illustrating in the drawing a sheet of paper embod ing the invention I have illustrated a mac ine of the type in which wiping paper is employed and have shown a web of wiping mounted upon and extending through the machine and having a portion thereof in proper relation to an engraved printing plate the surface of which is to be wiped at intervals. i

In the drawing? Fig. I is a transverse vertical sectional view in diagrammatic form of a machine in which engraved printing plates and wiping paper are employed;

ig. 2 is a plan view of a fragmentary portion of a sheet or Web of paper embodying my invention indicating the width there- 311 of the ink removed from printing plates of predetermined width;

Fig. 3 is a-view in transverse section of the web or sheet of paper shown inFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a fragmentary portion of a web or sheet of paper of the kind heretofore used and showing the width of theink thereon as removed from a printing plate of the same width as that presupposed' in connection with Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a view in transverse section of the web or sheet of paper shown in Fig. 4.

Figs. 3 and 5 have been given for the purpose of cmnparison between the thickness of a wiping sheet as heretofore used and that of a wiping sheet embodying my invention.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing I have shown an engraved printing plate 1 mounted upon a bed or carrier 2 supported to be reciprocated back and forth between the ink applying meansv indicated at 3 and the printing position indicated at 4. The ink is adapted to be applied to the surface of the printing plate 1 by means of a roller 5 mounted upon underneath a ner- The wiping web or sheet of paper 10 is in the form of a roll 11 revolu ly su ported upon a shaft 12. The web extends from the roll 11 underneath a guide roll 13, between rolls 14 and 15, over a guide roll 16 pressure bed 17 and from the latter to a rotatable shaft 18 about which the used web or sheet is wound. The ressure bed is adjustable vertically to vary t e pressure with which the portion of the sheet thereunder is caused to contact with or engage the top surface of the printing plate 1 upon the reciprocatin Y bed or support 2'.

In the operation 0 the press the pressure bed 17 is reciprocated through a short distance verticalI that upon the return movement of t e rinting plate 1 from the printing to the in ing position it does not contact with the underneath opposing surface of the portion of the web or sheet '10 underneath the pressure bed 17. Prior to the return movement of the printing plate from the inking position to printing position the pressure bed 17 is lowered sothat in its return movement the top of the plate 1 is pressed and wiped against the under side of the portion of the web underneath the pressure bed 17. Upon reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the forward or right hand edge of the surface of the plate 1 first contacts with the portion of the web underneath the pressure bed 17 along a line in alinexnent with the left band edge of the said bed. As already indicated, in machines of the character of that sug ested in Fi 1 of the drawing (which mac ines are well known and in general use). the pressure bed 17 is adjustable in order to vary the pressure of the section or portion of the wiping paper underneath the same against the opposing upper surface of the printing plate 1. Such adjustment and variation of pressure may be in a. direction to increase the stretching tension upon the web. In the use of pa er of thecharacter heretofore employe this pressure and tension have been relatively great, in consequence of which the webs have not infrequently broken thus entailing a loss of time andof paper. Furthermore, as already indicated, such increase of pressure increases the triotion between the contactin surfaces of the paper and the plate, there causing relatively ra id wearing away 0 the latter.

The c aracteristics of webs or sheets of paper which have been treated with oil of the character previously indicated in accordance with my invention are such that the ink is completely removed from the sur-' faces of the plates surrounding the engraved lines thereon even though the pressure between the plate and the sheet is: very much less than that which has been necessary heretofore when paper without special treatosc'ill'atable levers or arms 6 in known manment has been used. Application of the oil llu to the paperis effected by causing the sameink' from plates of certain definite widths to be drawn more or less slowly through a body of oil of a character-previously indicated at ordinary room temperature and at normal atmospheric pressure. The surfaces of. the paper-are fairly well impreg nated with the oilibut complete saturation ofthe paper is not desirable although permiwible. r y

It has beenffound that when paper so treated is used for theremovalof ink from the surfacesof plates the area of the surfrom a plate having a width, offourand a half inches the ink band or smear produced upon a sheet embodying my invention is approximately four inches wide and that the successive bands or smearsareseparated approximately one and a half inches;

whereas if untreated paper asheretofore used is employed the bands or smears of ink are approximately five inches wade and it is necessary to separate these bandsor locate them. approximately two and one half inches apart. Thisis'due to the fact that in the latter case the smear marks extend over a substantially wider space than is the case when paper embodying my invention is employed.

These dimensions would vary if plates of different widths were used,the ink removed from wider plates covering greater areas of the surface of the sheets and that removed from narrower plates covering less areas upon the said sheets. i

In Fig. 2 of the drawing I have illustrated at 19 the widths and as far as possible the appearance of the bands of ink as removed upon a sheet of wiping paper 20 embodying my invention, and have alsoindicated the spaces between successive bands of removed ink. I r

In Fig. 4: I have illustrated at 21 the bands of ink removed fromthe surfaces of printing plates by means of a sheet of untreated paper 22, such as heretofore has been in use, and have also indicated the widthof the spaces between successive bands. In both cases the sheets of paper 20 and 22 were employed for the removal of the ink from printing plateshaving a width of four and a half inches. In other words, the conditions under which the two sheets 20 and 22 were used were identical in every respect. It will be seen, therefore, that a great saving of paper is. effected by reason of the fact that a much smaller area of the treated paper is required to effect removal of the ink than is required when untreated paper is used. Not only is a smaller area of paper required for the removal of the and areas when treated 'paper is employed, but the removalof the ink is more com-- .pletely effectedso that thesur'faces of the plates are cleaner than when untreated paper, such as heretofore 'hasbeen used, is employed. One reason for'this is that the treated paper has had imparted to it a characteristic whereby its adhesive qualities have been improved as compared with the untreated paper heretofore used. Another reason appears to be that the surfaces of the printin plates become covered with a thin film 0% oil the presence of which renders the ink more readily removable.

Another advantage which may be mentioned as being incident to my invention that the em loyment of sheets embodying the same enables the use ofwater inks without the picking of color" from a reviously run color in operations in wine two or more colors are employed.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a transverse section of a sheet 20 embodying my invention and in Fig. 5 I have shown a similar section of a sheet 22. These two figures have been provided for the purpose of indicating the relative thickness of treated or oiled sheets embodying my invention and the untreated sheets as heretofore employed as wiping sheets for the removal of ink from the surface of intaglio printing plates.

It will be seen that by my invention, which enables the use of sheets substantially thinner than those which heretofore it has been possible to use, I am enabled to bring about a substantial saving in the quantity of paper as originally. required, the difference being in the proportion by weight of approximately forty pounds per ream and fifty-five to sixty pounds per ream. In additionto a saving in this respect there is its also a substantial saving due to the fact that it to the surface of the printing plates wit] as great a pressure as in the case of untreated paper, whereby there is less frequent breakage of the web and whereby also there is less friction between the paper and the surfaces of the plates and consequently less wear upon the latter. Moreover, a substantial saving, from a commercial stand point, results from the fact that the storage space required to care for the supply necessary to be carried in stock is substantially less than is or would be required to carry in stock the same amount of yardage of untreated paper of the character of that heretofore in use; also a less amount of pulp is required for the production of a given yardageiof paper satisfactory for use if the some is treated in accordance with my invention than would be required if the paper manufactured from such pulp were to be used in untreated state as heretofore has been the case.

It will be seen that by my invention I have provided a wiping paper for removing the ink from intaglio printing plates ing characteristics which render it of marked advantage over the wiping paper heretofore in use.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v

1. Oiled wiping paper for theremoval of ink from printing plates.

2. lViping' paper for the removal of ink from the surfaces of printing plates the surfaces of the paper being covered with oil which is liquid at room temperature.

3. Wi ing paper for the removal of ink from t e surfaces of intaglio printing plates, which paper is with a nonvolatile oi 4. Wiping from thesur aces of is partially saturated With-.011 whereby its adhesive qualities with respect to the ink on such latesiisincreased -5. iping pa r for the removal of ink from printing p ates the surfaces of which paper are impregnated withmineral oil.

6. Wiping per for the removal of ink from the sur aces of printi plates, which paper has been treated with a suitable oil which is liquid at ordinary room temperature. i

7. Oiled paper for the removal of ink from the sur aces of printing hates, the oil employed for oiling the same 89mg preferably mineral oil which is liquid at ordinary room temperature.

8. Wiping paper for the removal of ink from pzint ng plates the surfaces of the paper ing impregnated with a mixture of mineral and other oils.

In testimony that I claim the fore ing as my inventioml have hereimto signe my name this 20th day of April, 1927.

moms M. ROYAL.

per for the removal of ink plates which 

